Mirza eases into tennis quarters

Indian ace to face second-seed Tamarine Tanasugarn in quarter-finals.

GUANGZHOU: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza reached the Asian Games women’s singles quarter-finals, along with 40-year-old top-seed Kimiko Date Krumm.

Mirza knocked out China’s Zhang Shuai 6-2, 6-2 while Japanese veteran Krumm, who was the gold medallist at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, brushed past Hong Kong’s Zhang Ling 6-3, 6-3.

Mirza’s world ranking has slumped to 166 following a series of injuries and she was forced to miss the women’s team event for the tournament because of illness. But the 24-year-old started off her singles campaign with a 6-1, 6-0 romp over Hong Kong’s Venise Chan on Thursday and was in equally emphatic form as she took on Shuai.

“I felt a bit rusty at the beginning, but I feel I was playing better than Thursday,” said Mirza who is unseeded at the event. “I had not played much in the last four weeks so I’m trying my best to focus. I knew Zhang had a weak serve so I had to attack it. I felt like I was serving much better.”

Mirza will now face second-seed Tamarine Tanasugarn in the quarter-finals after the Thai defeated South Korea’s Lee So-Ra 6-0, 6-1.

In the men’s event, top-seed Denis Istomin thrashed Vietnam’s Do Minh Quan 6-0, 6-2 while ninth-seed and defending champion, Danai Udomchoke beat Hong Kong’s Yu Hiu Tung 6-3, 6-2. Somdev Devvarman, the men’s second seed from India, demolished Qatar’s Mohammed Jabor Al Mutawa 6-0, 6-0 in just 37 minutes.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2010.